At LePort, the child’s choice to learn is central to our approach: real learning (as against just memorizing, or engaging in “hands-on projects” without further meaning) has to build upon sincere interest by the child. You can make a child memorize historic events; you can make him build a diorama of a historic scene – but you cannot make him understand what made the Declaration of Independence the tremendous achievement it is. In order to do the latter, he must exercise his choice to engage his mind.
To engage the child’s interest, we take his full context into account: his background knowledge, his skill level, his values and interests.
A student who comes to us with a weakness in math facts will struggle in class – unless we offer him dedicated tutoring to remedy his unique skill gaps. A creative child who loves writing, but lacks organizational skills, will fail in writing class – unless we provide her with extra coaching on project planning and time management. A child who has experienced history at another school as dry recitation of dates and figures will need our teacher’s extra effort in tying the historic events he studies to his own world.
The general principles of encouraging curiosity and teaching sequentially are the foundation for making learning enjoyable. But we do more: we personalize your child’s learning experience in many ways. For example:
- In our Montessori classrooms, a child is free to choose from developmentally appropriate education materials, guided by her own interests, and can progress through the curriculum at her own pace.
- In our elementary and junior high program, we tie what we teach to the children’s context. For example, when we talk about asceticism in history class, we begin by asking students what they value, what they are most passionate about in the world – foods, sports, friends, experiences – then ask them to imagine what would make them give up all these values.
- In each class, we tailor assignments to the different levels of skills of students (from offering additional practice to more challenging assignments.)
- We offer individualized academic and organizational/executive functioning coaching outside of class, tailored to target a student’s specific challenges.
- With STAS, LePort’s in-house, individualized curriculum and tutoring program, students can thrive at our school whether they are far behind or far advanced. We offer one-on-one or small-group instruction instead of regular classes, for an additional fee, and thus tailor our instruction to a wide range of abilities. (This is especially important in mathematics, where ability levels diverge significantly by 4th or 5th grade.)
